In the " Delensative," or preface to the " Country Essay," etc., Owen assigns reasons on account of which he had not felt himself free to petition Barliament in leference to the establishment of an ecclesiastical i)olity for England. In the " Country Essay," etc., he condemns very strongly the infliction of civil penalties for religious belief. In the first part of it, he describes a form of chui ch govern- ment which commended itself to his judgment. Owen purposely refrained from describing it either as Bresbytery or Independency, deeming himself competent to satisfy all men rosjxcting it; "unless such as shall bo so simple or mali- cious as to ask whether this way be that of the Presbyterians or Independents." By his own admission, the scheme jjroposed in the "Essay" would not exactly agree with either of the two forms of church government which were then com- peting for national favour and the sanction of the state. There can be no doubt, liowever, that he was at this time undergoing the change of view which led him in the end to profess Congregationalism. It is simple justice to add, that a com- parison of the " Country J<;ssay " with his " luquijy into I'.vangelical C'hurches," published towards the close of his life, effectually redeems his name from any charge of vacillation in regard to his chuicli jirincijiles. The peculiar modifica- tions which appear in the Congregationalism of Owen, are conspicuous elements in the first scheme of ecclesiastical polity which he ever broached. See also his " Jieview of the Nature of Schism," chiip. ii. vol. xiii. — En.
AMPLISSTMO
SENATUI,
INCLYTISSIMO POPULI ANGLICANI CONVENTUI, OB
PRISCA ANGLO-BRITANNORUM JURA STRENUE ET FIDELITER ASSEUTA;
LIBERTATEM PATRIAM (NEFARIIS QUORUNDAH MOLITIONIBUS P.ENE PESSUNDATAM) RECUPERATAM;
JUSTITIAM FORTITER, iVa;, ivi'.iicS;, iiroso-^ToA-^Tra,- ADMINISTRATAM;
'A^X-^,v IN ECCLESIASTICIS avn^on^xniifht DISSOLUTAM,
BITU3 PONTIFICIOS, NOVITtOS, ANTICHRISTIANOS ABOLITOS; PRIVILEGIA PLEBIS CHRISTIANS POSTLIMINIO RESTITUTA;
POTISSIMUM
PROTECTIONEM DEI O.M. HIS OMNIBUS, ALIISQUE INNUMERIS, • CONSILIO, BELLO, DOMI, FORAS GUATIOSE POTITAM;
TOTO ORBE JURE MERITISSIMO CELEBERRIIIO, TOTI HUlC IXSUL^E STERNA MEJIORIA RECOLENDO,
VIRIS II.LUSTRIBUS, CLARISSIMIS, SELECTISSIMIS, EX ORDINE COJIMU- NIUM IN SUPREMA CURIA PARLIAM. CONGREGATIS,
CONCIONEM HANC SACRAM, HUMILEM ILLAM QUIDEM, IPSORUM TAMEN VOTO JUSSUQUE PRIUS CORAM IPSIS HABITAiM, ' NUNC LUCE DONATAM,
D.D.C. JOANNES OWEN.
Die Mcrcurij, 29 Aprllk, 164G.
Ordered, b}- the Commons assembled in Parliament, That Mr Jenner and Sir Peter Wentworth do from this House give thanks to Mr Nalton and Mr Owen for the great pains they took in the sermons they preached tliis day, at the entreaty of this House (it being a day of pubHc humiliation), at Alargaret's, Westminster; and to desire them to print tlieir sermons. And it is ordered that none shall presume to print their sermons Avithout licence under their hand- writing.
II. Elsynge, Cler. Pari. I). Cum.
SERMON I.
A VISION OF UNCHANGEABLE, FREE MERCY, IN SENDING THE MEANS OF GRACE TO UNDESERVING SINNERS.
" And a vision appeared to Paul in the night : There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into IMacedonia, and help us." — Acts xvi. 9.
The kingdom of Jesus Christ is frequently in the Scripture com- pared to groioing things,^ — small in the beginning and first aj)pear- ance, but increasing by degrees unto glory and perfection. The shapeless stone^ cut out without hands, having neither form nor de- sirable beauty given unto it, becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth, Dan. ii. 35. The small vine brought out of Eg}-pt quickly covers the hills with her shadow, — her boughs reach unto the sea, and her branches unto the river, Ps. Ixxx. 8. The tender j^ictnt^ becomes as the cedars of God ; and the grain of mustard-seed to be a tree for the fowls of the air to make their nests in the branches thereof Mountains are made plains before it, every valley is filled, and the crooked paths made straight, that it may have a passage to its appointed period ;— and all this, not only not supported by out- ward advantages, but in direct opposition to the combined power ^ of this whole creation, as fallen and in subjection to the " god of this world," the head thereof As Christ was " a tender plant,"* seem- ingly easy to be broken ; and " a root out of a dry ground," not easily flourishing, yet liveth for ever;*' so his people and kingdom, — though as a " lily among thorns,"' as "sheep among wolves,"^ as a "turtle- dove" among a multitude of devourers,^ — yet stands unshaken, at least unshivered.
1 "Ecclesia sicut luna defeetus habet, et ortits frequentes; sed defectibus suis crevit, &.c. Usee est vera Luna, qua3 de fratris sui luce perpetua, lunieu sibi im- niortalitatis et gratiaj mutuatur." — Amb. Hex., lib. iv. cap. 2. Ps. Ixviii. 13.
2 Isa. liv. if; Zech. iv. 7. ' Isa. liii. 2-5. * 1 John iii. 13; Rev. ii. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 4. * Isa. liii. 2.
« Heb. vii. 25. ? Cant. ii. 2, » IMatt. x. 16. » Ts. Ixxiv. 19.
6 A VISION OF
The main ground and foundation of all this is laid out, verses 6-9 of this chapter, — containing a rich discovery how all thing's here be- low, especially such as concern the gospel and Church of Christ, are carried along through innumerable varieties and a world of contin- gencies, according to the regular motions and goings forth of a free, eternal, unchangeable decree: as all inferior orbs, notwithstanding the eccentrics and irregularities of their own inhabitants, are orderly carried about by the first Mover.